It should be no surprise that we do not plan on releasing IE7 for Windows 2000. One reason is where we are in the Windows 2000 lifecycle. Another is that some of the security work in IE7 relies on operating system functionality in XPSP2 that is non-trivial to port back to Windows 2000.

Why would anyone want to “upgrade” to that bloated POS called XP? win 2k is rock solid stable and secure if maintained properly. and the free version of zone alarm is FAR better than the bloatware firewall that comes with XPsp2. in my view, XP stands for Xtra Porous. and IE7 sounds like a real kludge. it’s about time Microshaft started listening to the techs instead of the marketing people. They don’t care how many security holes it opens, as long as they can add another bloated feature…. I’m sorry, does it sound like I don’t like Microsoft much? good, I was afraid that wasn’t coming across adequately.

Win2K is considered by some to be the most stable, secure and tightly coded MS operating system. However, reality is what it is — Win2K is aging, and Microsoft is slowly pulling back support for it. In addition, developers soon will begin writing programs that won’t work on it, particularly once Longhorn is out. Win95/98 users can tell you all about that — most new programs written for the Windows platform won’t work on Win95/98. Win2K soon will join them.

That’s what I meant by “upgrade or die.” Not an endorsement, just the reality of it.